Anger
by GoldenGirl
Summary: Skate. Jack and co. get back to the beach. Fights break out.


Title: Anger

Pairing: Skate

Rating: pg-13

Disclaimer: I don't own lost.

Summary: Reunion

Spoilers: Up until 3.14. I don't know what happens after 3.14 (don't read spoilers), so I'm just taking a gander and writing this little reunion the way I'd want it to go down.

Author's Note: It's late. And I just wrote this in one shot. Which is not usually the way I write things. So... forgive me? Kthanks!

It was dark. The first one he saw come out of th e jungle was Jack. First, just like a leader. There was big fanfare when he came through those trees. People were giving him a hero's welcome. And Jack was taking it all with a hunched shoulder, a modest smile and a big slice of humble pie. Sayid slipped passed the crowd and headed to his tent. And the blonde woman Sawyer recognized came to stand beside Jack.

It seemed to take forever for Kate to appear. In actuality it was probably just a minute or two, but to Sawyer it was too long. And in that time his heart felt ready to explode. The words were on his tongue. The words he had been needing to tell her ever since he hadn't. "I'm Sorry." He would've screamed it into the night if it meant she'd come out from behind those trees.

And then he saw her.

She walked slouched and exhausted , in no mood.

When he saw her his feet immediately started to move. Ironically enough when she saw him she stopped and stood still. He bypassed the Jack fans and went straight for her, he could see Juliet look at him as he passed but he didnt turn his face.

And suddenly, with every step he took, he felt a sudden surge of anger. He was angry that she could just up and leave him like that without saying a word. Angry that he cared and worried and thought about her all the time. Angry that she didnt even seem to care. Angry that she was back and that it was all just supposed to be okay.

And when he reached her, suddenly those words he wanted to scream just a second ago were gone. And all he could do was say, "What the hell were you thinking?"

Kate watched his eyes, really just confused.

"I'm too tired for this," she said. And she started walking again.

And he said, "Kate" but she didnt care.

After that Sawyer was just angry. At everyone. And at himself. He was very comfortable being angry at himself. But he couldnt sit still. Not now that she was finally back and he could finally relax. He had to move around. He wasnt about to go to Jack or the blonde chick. He went to Sayid and demanded to know what happened out there. In the jungle. With the Others. Why they brought one of them back.

"Jack says we can trust her," Sayid explained.

"She held a gun to Kate's head!" Sawyer spat, incredulous. "She woulda killed her!"

"They do not seem particularly fond of each other."

"So you got two for the price of one? Sounds like one hell of a rescue mission."

"Actually, Jack and Juliet were going to leave the island together. I learned this only after Locke blew up the submarine."

Sayid told Sawyer everything he knew. Maybe because he was angry too.

By the end of the story Sawyer was on his way again. And he didnt stop till he was standing behind Jack. Now alone, refilling his water bottle.

"Hey Jack."

When Jack turned around he was met with a hard fist to the face. Knuckle to eye socket. It stung and he recoiled.

"You were just gonna leave her there?!" Sawyer yelled.

Jack squeezed one eye shut in pain but as he blinked the other open he only saw a flash of Sawyer's bared teeth before he felt that same fist again. "Leave her ihandcuffed/I?"

Jack had too many reasons to hate Sawyer already. He didnt need another. And fighting back was just an excuse to fight in the first place. So he fought. And he barged into Sawyer's midsection and took him down in a tackle. Sawyer grunted as he collided with the ground, Jack's shoulder digging into his stomach.

"You don't know anything," Jack hissed as he held Sawyer down. There was blood smeared under Jack's nose and a drop fell onto Sawyer's shirt. He wasnt just going to be pinned down. They fought, scrappy, messy. Jack landed his own punch in, splitting Sawyer's lip, just before Jin separated them. People had started to gather, and worry. Sayid was there too, holding Jack back.

"They were gonna kill me!" Sawyer shouted, Jin tugging his shirt, scraping him a few inches along the sand and away from Jack. "They could've killed her!"

Kate heard the commotion but was only now getting to it. The first thing she saw was an agitated Sawyer with blood on his face trying to fight off a much calmer Jin. Jin, who was speaking in Korean with a soothing tone of voice.

She ran toward them. "What's going on?"

Sawyer was using the back of his hand to stop the blood or wipe his face or keep his lip from falling apart. Kate looked around, because it hadnt been Jin he was fighting with. The crowd was already starting to leave, and through them she saw the back of Jack. His whole body was tense. And Sayid was there, talking to him in the same way that Jin had talked to Sawyer. And Juliet was there too, standing by him. Just like she was with Sawyer.

Sawyer cursed, loud and harsh and it got her attention again. The amount of new blood gushing down his chin was enough to scare her.

"iWhat/I happened?"

"Jack's a big damn hero," Sawyer answered. He looked in Jack's direction, jaw clenched, shooting daggers and all that. "He'll get us all killed to save his own ass!" He shouted.

Jack shot back around, about to make another lunge to tackle Sawyer down when he saw her standing there. Kate saw that Jack's eye was already starting to swell but what disturbed her most of all was the look in his eye. He wasn't holding back. He had lost all control. He was seriously going to inflict harm. But when he saw her, he stopped. He froze in his tracks for a brief instant. Then turned around and started walking back to his tent.

Juliet looked at Kate, then Sawyer with that very familiar unreadable expression. Then she turned and followed Jack.

Sawyer was already heading back to his own tent, stomping off, shoulders set in tension.

"Let me look at your lip," Kate said, walking behind him, keeping pace.

Sawyer ignored her and violently tore back the flap to his tent. He rummaged around his stuff until he found a tshirt he hadn't worn in a while. Good enough. He bunched it up and pressed it to his lower lip. "Son of ibitch/!" He hissed pain, and kicked a bag of luggage by his feet.

Kate picked up the bag and rifled through it.

"What the hell you doin'?"

"Where's your peroxide?" she asked.

"Gone!" Sawyer said. "Bastards took my stuff!"

Kate put down the bag. "They took your stash?"

"You leave town for a few days and everyone thinks your dead."

He went to his airplane chair and sunk down into it, shaking his head to the side to get the hair out of his face. Kate followed him there too.

"Let me see your cut."

"It's nothin'," he muttered. Though the tshirt on his mouth was already starting to look dark and damp, even though Kate only had firelight to see by. She moved his hand off his face for him, examining the damage. A deep cut, on the left side of his lower lip.

She tried not to grimace but she never really could stand the sight of blood.

Sawyer saw her flinch.. He stared straight at her as she assessed his lip.

"This looks deep," she said.

"It's just a flesh wound."

"You might need stitches."

He had to laugh at the irony. Even though it hurt like hell. "Somethin' tells me the doc's closed for business."

Kate didnt seem to think it was that funny. "I'm not even going to ask why fought Jack."

"Good."

She took the tshirt that was now a rag from his hand and pressed it to his lip again. "Maybe Sayid can help."

"I told you, it's nothin'," Sawyer explained. "I'm a bleeder."

She found some water and dabbed it on the tshirt to wipe the blood. She wanted to do more. Fix him up, take care of him, stop the pain. But all she had was water and a rag.

"I can't believe they took your stash."

Sawyer looked at her and he could see something like anger in her eyes. And it surprised him how much he appreciated it. She was angry about something that concerned him. She was angry because he was angry.

It felt like something a genuine girlfriend would do. And to him it meant everything.

She caught him looking at her. He wasn't angry anymore. His eyes were trying to say something and all she could do was stare back, waiting.

"I'm sorry," he finally said.

She knew it was a long time coming. She knew it was all he'd wanted to say when he first saw her again. The way he said it, it sounded like a release. "I'm sorry too," she said.

She pushed some hair behind his ear and continued to wipe the blood.


End file.
